A 2-year field study has demonstrated that volatile compounds produced by plants when they are attacked by herbivores act as defenses by attracting predators to the herbivores and increasing the reproduction of the plants.
The development of colonies of cells in choanoflagellates, water-dwelling organisms that feed on bacteria, is triggered by the presence of very low concentrations of a lipid molecule produced by certain types of bacteria.
Simulations and experiments on systems containing two different populations of microorganisms show that interactions that benefit at least one of the populations can lead to communities with stable compositions, and that strong cooperation between two populations can lead to communities in which both populations are mixed together.
Mutagenesis studies identified an androgen receptor mutation that converts enzalutamide-a drug recently approved for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer-into an androgen receptor agonist, and modeling studies informed the design of novel drugs that are effective against the mutant receptor.
The receptor EBI2 is essential for correctly positioning CD4+ dendritic cells in the spleen so that they can present blood-borne antigens to T cells and thereby provoke an antibody response.
A compound that prevents stressors such as UV light and viral infection from downregulating protein synthesis inside cells improves memory performance in mice.
A modified form of Green Fluorescent Protein integrated into an ammonium transporter provides a sensor that can be used to monitor transport activity in vivo.
C-terminal phosphorylation of the lipid phosphatase PTEN drives a reduction in membrane affinity and leads to a more compact conformation that involves a C2 domain-tail interaction.
